Ripple (XRP) CEO Brad Garlinghouse declined to say whether the company would ever acquire a bank, but used the deflection to lay out a broader case for Ripple's institution-first approach to crypto payments and stablecoin regulation during a Feb. 18 appearance at the Economic Club of New York.
What Happened: Garlinghouse Sidesteps Bank Question
Speaking with James Hasso, Garlinghouse was asked directly whether Ripple might buy a bank or pursue deeper partnerships with traditional financial institutions as it expands its stablecoin operations.
"I'm going to dodge part of your question answer," Garlinghouse said, before steering the conversation toward Ripple's long-standing strategy of working with banks rather than against them. He described Ripple's early decision to court financial institutions as "contrarian and controversial," noting it made the company "unpopular in crypto" at a time when the industry's default posture was to build outside the existing system.
Garlinghouse said Ripple launched its stablecoin RLUSD (RLUSD) 13 months ago and claimed it now ranks roughly fifth among the largest stablecoins.
He pointed to a New York Department of Financial Services trust license and a conditional OCC charter as evidence of a deliberate push toward what he called being "almost overregulated," arguing that institutional clients demand that level of oversight.
The closest he came to answering the bank question was brief. "And I'm going to skip the question, will we ever buy a bank? They are customers," Garlinghouse said.
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Why It Matters: Regulatory Clarity Driving Demand
Garlinghouse argued that recent U.S. legislation is already translating into measurable commercial activity, pointing to the Genius Act as a turning point. "That was an unlock for sure…we definitely saw a big uptick in stablecoin activity after that became law," he said.
He suggested a similar acceleration could follow passage of the Clarity Act, which he said would give boards, CFOs, and banks clearer definitions to act on. On tokenization, Garlinghouse cited BlackRock CEO Larry Fink as a prominent advocate who believes a "huge percentage of assets will be tokenized," adding, "I agree with him." But he cautioned that execution would proceed "vertical by vertical" and that domain experts — not Ripple — would need to lead in sectors the company does not understand, such as insurance.
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